Epilogue #2
Pipe nodded. He and the rest of the guys weren’t exactly thrilled by that prospect.
They’d discussed it at length, and he knew they’d all do everything in their power to keep that from happening.
To stay vigilant. And they’d also had a long talk about actually purchasing a helicopter for The Refuge and putting in a helipad and a small hangar.
It would mean cutting other things they’d planned to do on the property, at least for a while, but after Stone’s amazing flying had gotten them safely away from the estate in Arizona, they all realized how things could’ve gone downhill if that chopper wasn’t at their disposal.
With Cora and Lara both hurt, and Grant having regained consciousness so quickly…
It wasn’t the worst idea to have a helicopter at their disposal at The Refuge, just in case they needed to evacuate.
“She’s going to be all right,” Pipe insisted. “She just needs the time she needs.”
Cora sighed. Then nodded.
It was another in a long line of things Pipe loved about her. She was resilient and trusted him with every ounce of her being. He vowed to never let her down. That trust was a gift. He knew it and cherished it.
She’d said something a week after they’d gotten back from Arizona that had stuck with him.
They’d been talking about Grant, and why he was the way he was, and she’d commented that she should’ve been just like him.
Angry and bitter. And maybe a criminal. He could acknowledge now that it was a miracle she wasn’t.
She was wary of people, yes, but Pipe couldn’t blame her for that.
And there were times when she slipped and questioned why he was with her, but overall, she was remarkably well-adjusted for someone with her background.
He loved her. So much it almost scared him sometimes. But he also embraced it. Cora made him a better person. Kept his demons at bay. Just being with her opened his eyes more to the beauty that was all around him. That was life itself.
“You know how I went to town yesterday with Ryan, Alaska, and Reese?” Cora asked him.
Pipe was glad for the change of subject.
He didn’t like to see Cora sad. This wasn’t a night for sorrow.
It was for celebrating Henley, Tonka, and Jasna’s new life together…
and the new baby on the way. Things were changing on The Refuge, and Pipe was happy with the direction the business was going.
“Yeah?” he said belatedly, when he realized Cora was waiting for his response.
“Well, we didn’t just go to that chocolate shop and get you those British chocolates you like so much.”
“No?” he asked with a lift of his brow.
“Nope. I met with your tattoo guy.”
Pipe blinked in surprise. “You did?”
“Uh-huh,” Cora said with a small grin. “And…since he still had the art he used to ink your new tattoo, I asked him to go ahead and do mine.”
Pipe froze. “What?”
“I got the same tattoo you did,” she told him. “Right where I told you I wanted it. In the small of my back. It’s a lot smaller than yours though, because holy crap, Pipe, that shit hurts.”
Without a word, Pipe grabbed Cora’s hand and began towing her toward the doors to the barn.
Cora giggled. “Pipe, wait, we can’t leave!”
“We can and we are. You should’ve waited to tell me you got inked if you didn’t want me to haul you straight to our bed.”
She laughed again. Then turned her head and called out, “Alaska! We’re headed out!”
“You told him?” she asked loudly, making everyone turn to look at her, then Cora.
“Yup!”
“Have fun!” Alaska called out.
Ryan and Carly both gave her a thumbs up, and Reese simply smiled.
When they were out of the barn, Pipe growled, “I can’t believe you got it without me.”
“I know you wanted to be there, and I wanted that too, but I thought it would be more fun for it to be a surprise,” Cora said.
Pipe grunted.
He’d wanted to be there to support her when she’d gotten her first tattoo, but he was touched beyond belief that she’d gotten the same art that he’d put on his shoulder blade.
“It’s still red,” she warned him as he pulled her toward their cabin. “It’s gonna get all scabby and gross.”
“Tattoos aren’t gross,” Pipe told her.
“You know what I mean,” she muttered.
Pipe looked down and saw she was smiling as he walked them way too fast across The Refuge grounds. “How’s your arm feel?” he asked.
“Good.”
“And your arse?”
Understanding why he was asking, her smile widened. “It’s fine.”
“No pain?”
“No. Just a twinge here and there. But it doesn’t hurt right now,” she said quickly.
Pipe grunted. It had been a long time since he’d made love to his woman.
He’d eaten her out plenty in the last month.
Had gotten her off with his fingers, and she’d done the same for him.
But because of her arm and her healing tailbone, he hadn’t wanted to make love and risk hurting her even more.
But after hearing about the tattoo, there was no way he could stop himself from taking her.
The second they entered the cabin, he growled, “Bed.”
Cora laughed as she headed toward their bedroom.
Pipe took a deep breath, trying to get control over himself. His cock was throbbing, as if knowing it was minutes away from thrusting home into Cora’s tight, wet body.
Then he started after the woman he would follow literally to the ends of the earth.
Ten minutes later, Pipe stared intently at the tattoo in the small of Cora’s back as he eased his cock into her soaking-wet pussy.
She was on her elbows and knees in their bed, and he’d already eaten her to her first orgasm.
She’d been just as horny as he was, dripping wet before he’d even touched her.
The skin around her tattoo was a bit inflamed. He knew the image like the back of his hand, because he’d designed it with the tattoo artist, down to the smallest detail. The wolf, the key around its neck, the barbed wire. It was perfect.
His woman loved him enough to get him inked onto her body.
He loved her back. So much, he couldn’t put it into words. So he showed her instead. He took her slow and steady, loving how wet and hot she was. How her body clenched against him every time he pulled out, as if she didn’t want him to leave.
Pipe tried to be gentle. Even though she was healed, he didn’t want to do anything that might set her back, but Cora wasn’t having it. She began to rock, slapping her ass against him with every thrust.
Her ass cheeks jiggled and that tattoo right in front of his face was burned into his psyche. He ran his fingers over the tender spot on her body. A spurt of precome made his cock glide in and out of her body even easier.
“Bloody hell,” he murmured.
Cora laughed under him, and he felt it around his dick.
This woman, she was perfect. In every way.
And she was his. They hadn’t talked about getting married since that night on the rooftop deck.
They were getting to know each other in ways they hadn’t been able to during the first few days of their whirlwind romance.
And everything he learned about his Cora made Pipe even more sure that he wanted her for the rest of his life.
She was his match. It had taken him over forty years to find her, and a lot of heartache on both their parts, but now that she was here, he wasn’t going to let her go. Ever. Ring on her finger or not, she was his, just as much as he was hers.
“Pipe,” she whined from under him.
“What, love?” he asked.
“Faster. Harder,” she ordered.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
“I’m going to hurt you if you don’t fuck me properly,” she growled.
Pipe grinned. He put a bit more oomph into his next thrust, and was rewarded by Cora’s groan of pleasure. He loved the sounds she made. He loved everything about her.
Focusing once more on the tattoo on her back, Pipe finally let go. He made love to her as he’d wanted to for the last three months. It had been too long since he’d felt the warmth of her pussy. His hips moved fast, faster, and Cora met every thrust. She was beautiful.
Pipe had the thought as her inner muscles fluttered around him that he didn’t deserve her.
Everything he’d done, all the things he’d seen, he was positive that he shouldn’t have been rewarded with such an amazing woman.
But he’d spend the rest of his life trying to be deserving of her love. Of her loyalty. Of her trust.
“Oh! I’m almost there!” Cora panted.
She didn’t need to tell him. Pipe knew. He shifted so he could reach under her and flick her clit.
She jerked in his grasp as she immediately began to come.
Smirking at how sensitive she was, the fact that he knew just how to touch her to make her explode, Pipe took hold of her hips and fucked her through her peak.
She was tighter, wetter, and before he was ready, Pipe felt his balls tingling.
He pushed through her spasming muscles as far as he could and held himself still as come burst from the tip of his cock.
The amount of pleasure he got from releasing deep inside her caught him by surprise, just as it had their first night together in Phoenix.
An orgasm was an orgasm; at least that was what he’d always thought.
But he was wrong. There was something so elemental about coming inside the woman he loved. So primal.
One of these days, he’d come on her back, right on that tattoo.
But tonight wasn’t that night. He was going to fill her again and again, until they were both so exhausted they couldn’t move.
She shifted under him, and Pipe grimaced when he slowly pulled out of her. The last thing he wanted was to leave her body, but he didn’t want her on her knees, putting pressure on her arm or tailbone any longer than necessary.
Before he let her fall to her side, he held her still. Watching as his come leaked out of her folds. It was more erotic than anything he’d ever seen, and Pipe felt his cock twitch. Bloody hell, he’d just come and he wanted her again.